Last night I got into a exchange of conflicting comments to Merlin1963’s diary on Kentucky politics. My comment was brought about by the statement by another commenter, “Much of our state is unfortunately dependent upon whatever jobs & revenues can be brought in by coal - hence they see "Obama & those damn liberals" as their enemy.” While the second part of the comment is true; there is no basis in fact for the first. It is a fairly "tale."
Follow me below the orange sherbets to learn the facts.
I called BS on the quoted comment and pointed out that Coal was no longer the backbone of Kentucky’s economy. The response was that I did not live in Kentucky and that I “obviously don't know anything about” Kentucky, Coal or its politics.
To put those accusations to rest, I not only live in Kentucky but I have my entire 65 years including getting a BS in Finance and Government from Western Kentucky University and taking Master of Public Administration courses at Eastern Kentucky University. I worked in Kentucky state government for 33 years in program planning and management, budgeting, research and information management and environmental protection at every level from the Governor's office, to Cabinet, Department and Division. I have traveled the state extensively, visited strip mines in both the eastern and western Kentucky Coal fields, and participated in seminars on mining and mining safety response.
I have sat in the audience at legislative committee meetings and literally witnessed the Committee chairman look to the Kentucky Coal Association lobbyist for a thinly veiled “thumbs up" or "thumbs down" signal on proposed legislation; even legislation that had no impact on the coal industry.
So, yes, I know the Commonwealth and I know the coal industry.
For some reason current information on state employment is hard to find online. My skeptical and CT side thinks that actual information on an industry’s importance to a state, any state, can upset memes that are accepted as gospel such as “King Coal is Kentucky’s economic engine.” However, my rational side thinks it is probably only due to a lack of funding. In either event, it most assuredly can be blamed on the Rethugs.
I did however finally find information for 2007. Granted there was a drop of in manufacturing employment between 2000 and 2007 and an increase in mining employment. (I had originally cited the only information I could find quickly which was for 2000.) However, the 2007 mining jobs of 26,574 are only 10% of the 263,127 manufacturing jobs. Manufacturing did drop below the level of jobs in retailing which had risen to 265,532 jobs.
Industry 2007 Employment %
Employment in all industries 2,438,265.00 100%
Employment in mining 26,574.00 1.09%
Employment in manufacturing 263,127.00 10.79%
Employment in retail trade 265,532.00 10.89%
Employment in construction 144,426.00 5.92%
(% number for individual industries do not ad to 100% as only 4 industries of the 20 possible were selected for comparison)
Source http://knoema.com/....
All mining employment, including coal, in 2007 represented a hair over 1% of Kentucky’s total employment. I don’t know what more recent information would show but it is inconceivable that coal mining would overtake other sectors of the Commonwealth’s economy to the point that “Much of our state is unfortunately dependent upon whatever jobs & revenues can be brought in by coal.”
Coal is nowhere near the principal driver of Kentucky's economy and it galls me to see politicians tremble at the perceived power of "King Coal.” While it is bad enough that Democrats in Kentucky such as Alison Lundergren Grimes have to fight the head wind of the rethugs “War on Coal” meme; it is political malpractice when progressives, liberals and Democrats buy into the fallacy that Coal drives Kentucky’s economy. IT DOES NOT!
I do not discount the importance of those some 20K mining jobs to the people who depend on them for a living, However, when you factor in the safety and health risks to miners, damage to the roads from overweight coal trucks and damage to the environment in general; coal mining continues to be a losing proposition for the Commonwealth.
I feel a large majority of the people of Kentucky who get their livelihood from Coal will never vote for a Democrat; black or white. They have and will continue to vote Republican. If Lyndon Johnson's Appalachian Regional Commission and other ”War on Poverty” programs did not change their politics; nothing will.
That not withstanding; as a state we cannot continue to have the 1% tail wagging the rest of the dog